{"id":10932,"date":"2026-10-23T13:54:10","date_gmt":"2026-10-23T13:54:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=10932"},"modified":"2026-10-23T13:54:10","modified_gmt":"2026-10-23T13:54:10","slug":"hundreds-to-defy-palestine-action-ban-in-protest-at-us-embassy-in-london-protests","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=10932","title":{"rendered":"Hundreds to defy Palestine Action ban in protest at US embassy in London | Protests"},"content":{"rendered":"
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More than 400 people are expected to gather outside the United States embassy in London on October 31 in the latest act of mass defiance against the British government\u2019s ban on the Palestine Action group.<\/p>\n

Protesters plan to hold placards reading: \u201cI oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action,\u201d and campaign group Defend Our Juries said a parallel action will take place outside the US consulate in Edinburgh, Scotland.<\/p>\n

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More than 3,850 people have been arrested for publicly backing Palestine Action since the United Kingdom\u2019s government proscribed it as a \u201cterrorist\u201d organisation in July 2025, Defend Our Juries said.<\/p>\n

The timing of the demonstrations is calculated. In June, the Court of Appeal sided with the government and overturned a High Court ruling that had found the proscription unlawful.<\/p>\n

On November 4 and 5, the UK Supreme Court will hear an appeal by Palestine Action cofounder Huda Ammori.<\/p>\n

\u2018Arrested again and again\u2019<\/h2>\n

Among those Al Jazeera spoke to at the group\u2019s previous action outside Westminster Magistrates\u2019 Court was Teresa, a former teacher-turned-activist who has been arrested multiple times for protesting against the proscription.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a badge of honour<\/a>, to be able to do this for Gaza\u201d she told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n

She is not alone. Those arrested at recent actions include Massive Attack\u2019s Rob del Naja, 94-year-old human rights barrister Margaret Owen, former government adviser Jonathan Porritt and the Reverend Sue Parfitt.<\/p>\n

Why the US embassy?<\/h2>\n

Organisers want to raise the possibility that the UK move to ban Palestine Action came under pressure from US President Donald Trump.<\/p>\n

The proscription followed an incident in which activists spray-painted Trump\u2019s Turnberry golf course in Scotland. The US president labelled the action \u201cterrorism\u201d on his Truth Social platform and praised then-Prime Minister Keir Starmer\u2019s response.<\/p>\n

During the legal challenge, it emerged that Trump and Starmer had spoken by phone twice about Palestine Action in March 2025. Starmer had requested updates from Police Scotland on the arrests and briefed Trump on developments.<\/p>\n

The US president\u2019s son Eric Trump also met Scottish First Minister John Swinney before the ban was announced, and documents released under the Freedom of Information Act showed the Turnberry protest was discussed.<\/p>\n

The Halloween protests will also come three days after a hearing in the trial of the Turnberry protesters at the High Court in Glasgow. Prosecutors are now seeking to have the seven defendants sentenced as \u201cterrorists\u201d, a move critics called \u201ccompletely disproportionate\u201d.<\/p>\n

The same week that the prosecutors made that call, Washington designated Palestine Action a \u201cterrorist organisation\u201d.<\/p>\n

Defend Our Juries said the resulting sanctions have blocked Ammori from crowdfunding for her Supreme Court challenge.<\/p>\n

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Police officers grab a sign held by a Palestine Action campaigner during a protest outside the Labour Party\u2019s annual conference in Liverpool [File: Temilade Adelaja\/Reuters]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Growing opposition<\/h2>\n

This week, actors Paul Mescal, Jessie Buckley and Susan Sarandon along with broadcaster Gary Lineker signed a letter published on the cover of the New Statesman magazine urging Prime Minister Andy Burnham\u2019s government to drop the \u201cdraconian\u201d legislation.<\/p>\n

Campaigners said the ban on the group has also in effect halted UK sales of books by the Irish novelist Sally Rooney, a Palestine Action supporter.<\/p>\n

However, when author Sarah Helm, wife of National Security Adviser Jonathan Powell, publicly declared her support for Palestine Action, the Metropolitan Police took no action. Defend Our Juries said that exposes a ban that cannot be enforced evenly.<\/p>\n

Shami Chakrabarti, a senior figure in the ruling Labour Party, has urged the home secretary to lift the ban.<\/p>\n

Speaking to the LBC radio station, the former shadow attorney general said it \u201cmakes a mockery\u201d of counterterrorism law and the power to proscribe should be exceptional and kept under constant review.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d better be careful what I say, or I\u2019ll be arrested,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

The government\u2019s case<\/h2>\n

The government argued that Palestine Action\u2019s campaign of break-ins and criminal damage at defence sites, including those linked to Israeli arms maker Elbit Systems, meets the legal threshold for proscription. The Court of Appeal described it as a covert organisation operating through secret cells.<\/p>\n

Defend Our Juries insisted its own protests are entirely peaceful.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis mass defiance and the mass arrests expected to follow will lay bare the fundamental rights to free expression at stake in the Supreme Court hearing just days later,\u201d a spokesperson said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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More than 400 people are expected to gather outside the United States embassy in London on October 31 in the latest act of mass defiance against the British government\u2019s ban on the Palestine Action group. Protesters plan to hold placards reading: \u201cI oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action,\u201d and campaign group Defend Our Juries said…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10933,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_2277560469115098_106292521332774":"","twitter_aToxNzczMzI3Njk4OTg4ODUxMjAxOw==_1773327698988851200":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_templately_pack_id":"","_templately_imported_at":"","_templately_source":"","_templately_import_session_id":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10932","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-international-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t